To have allergy relief, you will need to have an evaluation. Your allergy evaluation will start with a comprehensive history of your symptoms — what they are, what things make them worse or better, and what treatments you have already tried. You will be carefully examined, and, if necessary, have breathing tests and/or allergy tests. With the information gathered from the tests, we can prepare a complete treatment plan to return you to a normal lifestyle.

Do I need to avoid certain medications for the allergy skin test or breathing test?

Medications clear out of your system at different rates, Do not take any of the below medications for AT LEAST 3 days before the skin test. If you cannot stop the medication, please let the provider know. Medications that can interfere with skin tests include:

• Prescription antihistamines, such as levocetirizine (Xyzal) and desloratadine (Clarinex).
• Over-the-counter antihistamines, such as loratadine (Claritin, Alavert), diphenhydramine (Benadryl, others), chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton), cetirizine (Zyrtec, others) and fexofenadine (Allegra).
• Tricyclic antidepressants, such as nortriptyline (Pamelor) and desipramine (Norpramin).
• The asthma medication omalizumab (Xolair). This medication can disrupt test results for six months or longer even after you quit using it (most medications affect results for days to weeks).
• For the breathing tests: Please do not eat anything for 1 hour before your visit. Please do not take your ProAir, Ventolin, or other asthma reliever for 6 hours before your visit

Generally speaking, neither the tests nor allergy treatments are painful. If a patient has strong allergy sensitivity, she might have itching during the skin tests, and that itchy feeling might last up to twenty minutes. If severe itching occurs, patients are normally treated to make the itching stop right away.

Is there a treatment for food allergies?

Treatment for food allergies depends on the type of food reaction that the person experiences. There is no treatment other than avoidance of the food for patients who have anaphylactic shock from foods. For some types of oral symptoms from foods, treatment of the underlying pollen allergy can improve the symptoms. There are several new and powerful treatments for food allergy in development, so check back often.